


This Ain't Goodbye

by forgetmenotsassenach



Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24128836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgetmenotsassenach/pseuds/forgetmenotsassenach
Summary: Jamie was prepared to send Claire back through the stones and die at the Battle of Culloden, but what happens when a young woman with red hair appears and tries to stop them. Will she have something important to say that could change everything?
Relationships: Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser
Comments: 44
Kudos: 104





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!
> 
> As promised I'm posting my new story (I like to be busy!)
> 
> Again, I have been reading/looking through other stories and haven't seen anything quite like this so hopefully it's a good read and is interesting.
> 
> Would love to hear your comments/ideas/feedback and anything you'd like to happen!

“I will not leave you...you can’t make me James Fraser” Claire shouted, her voice fighting against the howling winds as the clouds circling above them moved ever so closely towards them and their destination. 

Claire had decided a long time to not go back, she hadn’t regretted it once. But here in the ancient site, surrounded by the stones she couldn’t help but wish she’d never came through in the first place. How could she say goodbye to the true and real love of her life? Go back and live if Frank would have her, a fake life with false promise and a personality of someone who had been living 200 years in the past. The buzzing she heard the first time had begun again. The pitch so high she felt it would burst her eardrums if it carried on much longer. This was one of the many consequences of being able to travel through time she thought. Though the severity was nothing compared to the nightmares she had of ripping limbs and memory loss of her time here. She couldn’t bare the thought of forgetting about Jamie, about Faith.. 

“Claire ye must” Jamie shouted back just as loudly. He wouldn’t allow her to reverse his decisions. “You need to make sure our bairn is safe Sassenach” He knew what he said would make her listen. After losing Faith they’d both do almost anything to ensure this baby survived and was healthy. He knew that medicine and care was better in her time, that if something was to go wrong again that Claire would likely have the appropriate care she needed. He couldn’t live with himself if he almost lost again. With his fate already sealed he didn’t wish for her to be hunted by the English for the rest of her life while she remained in the highlands. There was no other choice; it was the only choice. 

The wind picked up as the humming intensified; shielding her face from the gales she looked at her husband. “I can’t live without you” her tears were now visible; the gentle sobs she had tried to keep concealed were coming out without fear. She was finally allowing her vulnerability to be seen. She’d always been so composed and strong in front of Jamie, the moments she hadn’t been he had been in prison for, her worst days. Now she could do nothing but fall apart and seeing him echoing her same actions was challenging his own composure. 

“Aye Sassenach” was all he could manage. He himself struggling not to choke on the words as they left his lips. She had become the missing piece he always desired, needed. Something about her and that messy curly hair always kept him safe. It was the best cure for all of the horrendous things that had happened to him because he knew he had her, his Sassenach. Even after losing Faith he still had her. They had each other. The idea of not having her there when times looking troubling scared him more than the pending death he was condemned too on the battlefield only a short ride away. 

“Then don’t make me go... we can fight...” she preceded the speech she had re-said a thousand times in her in head for she’d always feared there would be a time when even he would have to admit he couldn’t save her this time, that she’d have to go back. 

“Sassenach...” he started, his face softening as his hand gently began to wipe away the stained tears that were dripping down her ivory coloured cheeks, his fingers stopping to stroke against the silky feeling of her skin. 

“Don’t Sassenach me James Fraser... I’m quite capable of taking care of myself” 

Jamie couldn’t help but grin and nod back at her. He had seen this on several occasions and it never ceased to amaze him how strong and determined his wife was. “I know ye are... but if I am too die soon I want to die knowing ye are safe…both of ye” he said it as bluntly as he could. He didn’t want to die but if destiny was to be that way then what was he going to do about it apart from ensuring his wife and bairn were safe. That was the greatest gift Claire could give him right. Insurance that his child would live and be happy. 

“Jamie...I” 

“Claire... please I beg ye” he brought his face to hers, his hands pulling her head closer to his and their noses barely touching but enough he could feel the tear stains on her cheeks and her heavy breathing as she tried to compose herself again. 

Claire had never seen this side to Jamie before. He was begging her to leave, to leave him and go. Knowing full well that may not meet for a lifetime. She pressed her lips hardly against his, refusing to let go. 

It took everything in her to lift her head and walk a step back away from the man who had captured her heart at a hillside all those years ago. Breathing deeply she took another step back... she had to keep her head low to the ground for fear if she looked up she’d retrace her steps and launch into his embrace that she longed for already. 

“Sassenach” he called out, several stray tears were now falling. He had done it. He had given in and allowed her to see him at his weakest. 

Just as Claire turned her head round to face the stone she saw the bright light and heard the buzzing intensive to the point where she ducked and held her stomach protectively for a moment, shutting her eyes to avoid the bright light causing everlasting damage. She wasn’t ready yet. She hadn’t took her last look at him. 

“Mama stop... please” 

“Sassenach... are you alright?” Jamie ran to her side, breaking every promise he made and held her tightly, his arms wrapping around her perfectly cradling her whole body against his chest. 

“We’re okay Jamie... but who’s that?” Claire looked up again as the same time Jamie did and saw the young woman staring back at them...what was extraordinary was the long ginger curls that draped down the sides of her face, they resembled Jamie’s distinguishing shade of red and the colour of her eyes that matched Claire’s identically.


	2. Can It Be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the interest in this story and asking for an update! I apologise for the delay but I've finally got back into this story and figured out a plan for the rest of chapters! There will be three more chapters after this one! (With one focusing on Claire and another on Jamie's relationship with Bree) 
> 
> As usual, please let me know what you think! :)

“Mama… don’t do it please” The young girl begged, her eyes shining as the tears flowed freely down her cheeks, cupping her chin. She stumbled forward as if to grab onto Claire but Jamie had cottoned on faster, immediately standing protectively in front of his wife before she could get any closer, shielding her as if she could share the deadly plague with just one touch. They had already experienced witchcraft and had their fair share of bad luck, with Claire being so close to leaving he wasn’t about to risk it. 

“Don’t do what?” Claire shouted against the wind, the buzzing consuming her eardrums and making it difficult to hear anything other than her own crazy thoughts. 

“Go through the stone…” She shouted, pointing at the stone in question, only confirming she knew what had just happened to her and possibly of Claire’s plans. But how could she know what they were planning to do? She had only met Geillis who could time travel so far, does this mean it’s more common than she thought?

“Why not?” Claire asked, with Jamie getting angrier by the moment he couldn’t stand by and listen anymore. 

“Ye will not tell my wife what to do ye witch!” Jamie hissed with vengeance. He had risked his life on various occasions to save hers, and he’d do it now without a second thought if it meant he could save both their lives. The safety of Claire and their unborn child had become his only goal now, to ensure they survived and lived on, his memory would be remembered in a far greater way. 

Claire had dragged Jamie away before he lunged his dagger from his trousers at the young woman. Though in a state of confusion similar to Jamie’s stranger things had happened to the couple, she’d witnessed what the stones could do, she’d experienced the strength of the stones and its unpredictability. 

“Jamie lets just hear her out,” Claire reasoned, her eyes diverting to the auburn colour hair at once matching it against Jamie’s. It was the same thickness with the small curls at the ends that could never be tamed. She let the possibility run through her mind for only a moment before reasoning with her conscience. 

“Sassenach..”

“Jamie” Claire addressed her worried husband, taking his hands into hers. “All I want to do is listen to her, if she’s from my time she may have come back for a reason. I just need to know” 

“Aye,” Jamie begrudgingly agreed. They walked back over to the young woman; she stood with a thick cloak draped around her shoulders and a plain green dress on with far too many petticoats beneath it. She looked shy, scared and above all else sad. He recognised her eyes, the same his mother had. 

“Let’s hear it lass,” Jamie asked, his impatience growing ever thinner for every second they stood here chatting was another moment that Claire wasn’t sent to safety, another moment his unborn child wasn’t protected in a world that would do so much more for it than this war bound to land. 

Brianna stood frozen, her knees almost giving way with fear from the tone of her father’s voice. Her mother had always described him differently, calm, happy, loving... the man she was seeing and meeting for the first time was none of those things, though she knew right now she was nothing more than a stranger...but a stranger who had turned up unannounced calling his wife ‘Mama’. But from studying them moments ago Bree instantly saw why she lost her mother all those years ago, why she never really there with them, it was here she felt alive, here she was happy and being with Jamie had radiated her skin, her smile even though she was sad was still present every time he touched her hands or protectively stood in front of her. 

Claire could see the young girl was shaken and stepped in against her husband’s better judgment. “Why don’t we start with your name?” 

Brianna nodded, shuffling her feet around she spoke it for the first time in this land “it’s Brianna Randall” 

The silence overtook both Jamie and Claire as they looked dramatically at one another before looking back at her. The name Randall would always haunt them both for different reasons.

“It can’t be” Claire gasped; realising Jamie still had no clue what was going on despite having a familiar surname. 

“What Sassenach? She could have known about Black Jack and is just using it as a name ye ken very well she might be lying?” Jamie proposed. The name had haunted him for many reasons, with those dark nights edged into his memory like a knife and the idea of any of that man’s history ever laying a finger on Claire was enough to make his blood boil. He also knew who he was sending her back too… he hated the thought but he needed to ensure his child was well taken care of and from what she had told him about Frank he would do the honourable thing. 

“Brianna...” She said again. “I promised you I’d name the baby after your Da, but I kept thinking recently actually what I’d name a girl... Brianna was the only name that stuck...” Claire explained she looked over at Brianna allowing her mind to soar. It could have been a coincidence but fate was telling her something else. She had always listened to her instincts, letting them judge and lead her wherever they liked, she had trusted them for making the right decisions and she couldn’t deny the feelings inside of her telling her this would be her daughter…

“Claire that doesn’t mean anything...” 

Bree could see her parents still doubted her, so reached forward using the only item she brought with them that might make them change their minds. “You gave me these... before you came here when I was older...” Jamie at first using his body as a shield but when she pulled out the long necklace of shiny white pearls they both looked closer, surrounding her in amazement. “You told me they were Jamie Ma’s and that they meant a great deal to you” She continued. 

“May I?” Claire asked before reaching forward, holding them in her hands, her fingers feeling around the individual pearls. They looked just like the ones Jamie had given her. She’d treasured them from that moment. She reached into her dress pulling out the identical set of pearls, comparing them against each other with no faults or way to prove these weren’t the same. The pearl at the bottom had a scrap on was the same on both sets, even the imperfections matched. 

“Tell me something else… something only I would have told you…” Claire asked she was beginning to believe the young girl in front of her could really be their daughter. 

“Well,” Bree began, debating for a moment. “Faith… you told me about Faith, my big sister… you spoke of her often, you told me how she had the same colour hair like mine and how small she was…” She couldn’t help but smile as she recalled the bed story she’d heard thousands of times, as a child she had never referred to her as her sister but once she knew about Jamie after Frank’s passing Claire had told her why she mentioned Faith’s name so often but in a hidden code through a story. 

“Bree?” Claire called out, the nickname had come to her like a light, and seeing how girl’s face lite up she knew that must of been her nickname. 

“Mama” she reached out, throwing her arms around her mother. She’d feared that the last time had been the last. She dreamed of being able to hug her mother again. To tell her what she’d been up too, about Roger and her confusing feelings... she’d missed the bond they’d made just before she left. She missed the companionship and the ability to talk about her strange dreams and bizarre nightmares. 

“I don’t trust ye yet...ye understand though why?” Jamie said lowly, keeping back despite every instinct telling him to remove Claire from her arms. Though, even for a brief second, he saw it. 

Brianna nodded; Claire was wiping away the stray pieces of hair from her face, as the wind grew heavier with the darker skies beginning to roll in. 

“Bree, I don’t know why I believe you but I do. Why did you come back?” Claire asked. 

Brianna hesitated, what was telling too much or too little at this point? Upon touching the stones she’d thought of her parents...and the lasting memories Claire had given her of her time before with Jamie and it actually worked and she’d come at the right time. “You came back here… but at some point you both…die… I needed to stop you, to change things” she mumbled and hoped it came out in an understandable order. She’d practised and rehearsed meeting her father for the first time and her reunion with her mother but hadn’t quite worked out how she would tell them about their fate. 

“When is some point?” Claire asked 

“17… something” Bree pulled out the folded piece of paper showing them the obituary in the newspaper with the end of the date smudged out perfectly as a misprint. 

“Is this the only copy you have?” Claire asked, studying it further. If she didn’t believe Bree fully before she certainly did now.

Bree nodded sadly. “Now you know why I needed to come back to make you change your mind about leaving…” 

“You said Claire comes back? When?” Jamie asked, his brain finally processing some of what was happening. it then dawned on him what she had said… He already said his goodbyes, made his peace with his fate but he couldn’t see why this would be years in the future as have them both included.

“20 years…” Bree gulped, seeing them both stare widely at each other, their hearts aching for how long they would be parted. 

“How could this be? I’m supposed to?” Jamie asked, wishing he hadn’t. 

“You don’t die… you survive…as soon as Mama found out she came back to you…” Bree explained though this opened more questions she needed to reassure him of that at least. 

“Why is your name Randall though?” Jamie asked, this young girl was more convincingly becoming his daughter, his heart beginning to allow it to be possible, that he would get to know the child he always assumed would just be his imagination. 

“Daddy…Frank… took Mama back when you sent her through stones… like you were just about too… he raised me as his own until he died a few years ago…” Bree explained, she couldn’t help but notice how Jamie winced at her referring to him as ‘Daddy’ something he had not yet expected to hear, though knew it inevitable. “It was after his death we came back to Scotland to find out you survived and Mama came straight back to you…” 

it took only a few seconds before Claire began to react “Jamie you’re not sending me back...” Claire begged there was no way she is separated from him for twenty years especially realising he didn’t die today, he survived against all odds but he’d done it. 

“I need you to stay here together...do not go back and fight Jamie...” Brianna asked, though her words still meant very little to him he understood the urgency in her voice, the pain in her eyes as she looked at him for the first time. 

“Mama you were never happy... you need to stay and be happy, and for me... I would like the chance to get to know my real father. Frank was everything to me but I’d like the chance at having the life I was supposed to have, with you” 

Claire nodded, the idea of going back to frank made her sick to her stomach even now, how she’d lived with him for twenty years scared her. Raising Brianna as his own, clearly not being able to speak of Jamie or their time together. 

A gunshot in the distance brought them back to the reality they were facing. They were only several miles away from the battlefield, where his friends and brothers would perish at any moment. 

“We need to leave here Sassenach... it’s not safe for you or the wee bairn” They hurried towards Jamie horse, bringing it to join them. Bree stood nervously wondering what would happen now. She didn’t want to go back yet; she’d not met her father properly or spent time with her mother. Their relationship had been complicated but seeing her here with Jamie she understood why she’d been so distant. Their love was illuminating almost sickening.

“Where are we going to go?” Claire asked, suddenly frightened by the lack of guidance.

“Lallybroch” Jamie confirmed. “We’ll head back to Lallybroch and we’ll bring Brianna with us” Jamie nodded at their guest.


End file.
